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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24095287">i know that it won't be long</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RazzmatazzWillow/pseuds/RazzmatazzWillow'>RazzmatazzWillow</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Nancy Drew (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AO3 keeps saying george's name is fayne but i'm sure it's fan???, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, ryan is a sleaze but not necessarily a terrible person??</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:07:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,417</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24095287</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RazzmatazzWillow/pseuds/RazzmatazzWillow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you think Ryan would still bother you if someone else was in the picture?”</p>
<p>George was taken aback by the question. “You want to set Ryan up with someone?”</p>
<p>“No.” </p>
<p>(Title from I Wish I Missed My Ex by Mahalia)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ace/Nancy Drew, George Fan/Ned Nickerson, George Fayne/Ned Nickerson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>There's not enough love for these two going around, so I guess I have to do it. </p>
<p>Haven't written anything in a while so I hope this doesn't suck.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>George wasn’t exactly surprised to see Ryan waiting outside the Claw at 9.30 at night as she took out the trash. He had been texting her around this time every night for the past week. She hadn’t been responding. </p>
<p>“Jesus, Ryan,” she said, exasperated. He was standing in front of the dumpster, so she couldn’t help but walk by him. She hesitated a few feet from him, trash bag still in hand. </p>
<p>“George, I just want to talk,” he took a step towards her, and she took a step back, determined to keep some distance between them. </p>
<p>“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”</p>
<p>“I miss you. I know I’ve been a jerk lately, it just been such a difficult time, but it’s even harder without you.”</p>
<p>She scoffed. He just wanted a booty call and she wouldn’t let herself be dragged back into that world. She was finally doing okay. Sure, she was marked for death by blood bucket, but she was now a co-owner of a restaurant, her mom was doing better, and she had friends. Real actual <i>friends</i>. She’d had friends before, but all of those relationships had stopped when she had started up with him. </p>
<p>“You need to leave.” She was honestly at herself with how calm she sounded. Her heart had been beating loudly in her ears since she saw him. </p>
<p>“Only if you come with me” he insisted. She rolled her eyes. </p>
<p>“No! I’m not going anywhere with you!”</p>
<p>He started towards her again, reaching out to her, when she heard the bell above the door to the Claw chime. </p>
<p>“Hey George, do you know when the next shipment of clams is…” Nick trailed off. “Oh. Hello, Ryan.” George could hear the frown in his voice. </p>
<p>“Ryan was just leaving.” She turned to walk back into the Claw. Nick held the door open for her, eyes still focused on Ryan. He turned away when Ryan stalked to his car.</p>
<p>“Are you okay? What was he doing here?” he let the door close behind them and stepped towards her. He laid his hands on her upper arms, stroking as if trying to calm a panicked child. </p>
<p>“He said he wanted to talk. That he misses me.” As her eyes refocussed, she realised she had been staring at his chest. She blinked and looked up at his face. She could see concern, worry and maybe a little bit of anger flitting across his expression. Thankfully, one emotion that was missing was pity. George couldn’t abide pity. </p>
<p>“That’s a bit out of the blue isn’t it? I mean, he hasn’t been around here for a few weeks, right?” he stepped away to lean against the back of a booth. George bit her lip and looked away. “George?”</p>
<p>“I… He’s been texting. For the last few days. Asking to meet up.” She went to cross her arms and realised she still had a death grip on the trash bag. She released it and it fell to the floor with a thud. She flexed her fingers to try to relieve the tension that had built up in them. “And, no, before you ask, I haven’t texted back. I’m not leading him on.”</p>
<p>“I believe you. He’s a rich kid who’s used to getting what he wants.” Nick sighed, considering. “And right now, what he wants is you.”</p>
<p>George maintained her gaze at the floor, not wanting to look up and have to talk more, to explain her feelings about this situation. She was suddenly exhausted. She must have looked it too, because Nick got her coat and steered her out to his truck to drive her home, taking the trash out on the way. </p>
<p>The drive was silent, with George staring out the window wondering how she had gotten this deep into Hilltopper shit. Nick kept his eyes on the road, and his hands on the wheel, but his mind was on the girl next to him. Nick had always felt a certain affinity to George, even when he and Nancy had been dating. He liked her sharp tongue and her take-no-shit attitude, and the more he got to know her, the more he liked. </p>
<p>He didn’t like that the attitude had been honed out of necessity because of what Ryan Hudson had done to her. </p>
<p>When they arrived outside her place, Nick killed the engine and they sat in silence for a while. George turned to thank him for the ride when he spoke. </p>
<p>“Do you think Ryan would still bother you if someone else was in the picture?”</p>
<p>George was taken aback by the question. “You want to set Ryan up with someone?”</p>
<p>“No.” He turned to face her, leaning his shoulder into the seat. “I mean, if Ryan thought you were with someone, he might give up and move on.”</p>
<p>“But I’m not with anyone. And I don’t think I’m in the best place for a relationship right now.”</p>
<p>“And you don’t have to be. He just needs to think you are.”</p>
<p>George stares at him, going over his suggestion in her head.</p>
<p>“So if he thinks that I’m not available…” she trailed off when he nodded. “And… who do you have in mind to be this someone?”</p>
<p>He swallows thickly, looking away from her, suddenly very interested in the stitching in leather seats. “I mean, I-I could do it.”</p>
<p>“You’d do that for me?”</p>
<p>He looked back up. “Of course, I would. You’re my friend. I’m sure you’d do the same for me.”</p>
<p>George swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, I would.” She paused, taking everything in. “So, say we do this… what would that entail, exactly?”</p>
<p>Nick relaxed a little, glad that his suggestion hadn’t been taken the wrong way. He had been afraid she’d be offended, and their budding friendship would be back to square one. </p>
<p>“Um, I guess, we would just act sort of ‘couple-y’ when he’s around,” he said, using bunny ears, which drew a smile from her. “Like, hold hands and stuff. I can act jealous when I see him, just make him see that he’s not wanted. Then when he moves on and you’re comfortable, we’ll break up and agree to just be friends.”</p>
<p>George nodded along to what he was saying. It did make a certain kind of sense, and it’s not like it would be hard to pretend to be attracted to him. There was silence in the car for a long second while she deliberated. Her phone buzzed in her hand and when she checked it, there was another text from Ryan. He wanted her to come over. She swiped away the message and looked back up to Nick, determined now more than ever to get Ryan off her back. </p>
<p>“Okay. Let’s do it.” She stuck her hand out across the console. Nick grinned and shook it. With a final nod and a promise to talk more in the morning, she left the car and walked to the front door. She stepped inside and turned to see him pull away from the curb with a wave. </p>
<p>It wasn’t until she had closed the door behind her that it hit her: Ned Nickerson was now, for all intents and purposes, her <i>boyfriend</i>.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>George arrived at the Claw early the next morning, always the first in and the last out. Or so she thought. </p>
<p>The door was unlocked when she came in and Nick strolled out from the office, looking like he had been waiting for her. They stared at each other for a minute before either of them spoke.</p>
<p>“Hi” he said, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. “I thought maybe we could talk things over before the others get here.” </p>
<p>“Yeah, good idea.” She swallowed, and then made the decision to move. She hung her jacket on the coat rack and walked towards the office. He let her walk past her and then followed, closing the door behind them. </p>
<p>She took a deep breath before turning on her heel to face him. </p>
<p>“Firstly, I just want to say if you’re having second thoughts about this it’s totally fine and I can find another way to deal with Ryan.” She spoke quickly, forcing the words out. She hoped he wouldn’t want to back out – this was the best idea she could think of to get Ryan to move on and she didn’t really know what else she could do. But she wasn’t going to force Nick to do something he didn’t want to do just to help her out. </p>
<p>“I was going to say the same to you! I know I sprung this on you pretty late last night, after a long day and you were probably tired, so I wanted to make sure you were comfortable with this,” he had his hands out of his pockets now, open to her, showing her he wanted her to believe him. </p>
<p>George took a second and then nodded. </p>
<p>“I’m comfortable. Are you comfortable?”</p>
<p>“I’m comfortable.”</p>
<p>“Okay, great, so let’s hash this out.” She took her seat behind the desk and he sat in the visitor’s chair in front of her. “I’ve been thinking we shouldn’t tell the others that this is fake. Bess is too likely to blab on accident, Ace wouldn’t be able to keep it from Bess, and Nancy would try to get too involved.” </p>
<p>“Okay, okay, solid logic,” Nick said, leaning forward on his elbows. “So, we tell them that we’ve been getting closer lately, and we made the decision to start dating last night?”</p>
<p>“Hmm, more like a week or two ago? Last night feels like it’s a little rushed, but if we’ve been taking things slow and are now choosing to tell them, it feels more…” she trailed off. Truthful was not the right word here,</p>
<p>“Organic” he supplied, “you’re right. So, we made the decision to tell them that we’re dating last night.”</p>
<p>“Right. And when Ryan’s around we turn up the ante” she hesitated as he nodded, looking happy with the story. “Hey, Nick?”</p>
<p>His gaze fell back on her. </p>
<p>“What do you get from this? I know why I need this, but you’re doing all this as well. Do you get anything from it?”</p>
<p>He took a deep breath before responding. “I think Nancy is holding back from being happy with someone else because of me. I mean she’s holding Owen at arm’s length, and I know you see how Ace looks at her. Maybe, this will convince her to move on properly too.” He chuckled then, “Plus, I get to help you! My favourite George! What more could I want?”</p>
<p>George smiled at this. They sat there for a second before they heard the bell chiming and Bess chattering. Ace’s low voice joined in and then Nancy’s laugh. </p>
<p>“You ready, Fan?”</p>
<p>“Ready as I’ll ever be, Nickerson.”</p>
<p>The group looked over as they came out from the office. “Good morning you two!” Bess said grinning. Nancy rolled her eyes at the level of chirpiness so earlier in the morning. </p>
<p>George cleared her throat. “Before we start the day, we wanted to tell you guys something.” She felt Nick come up behind her, and she looked up at him as he took her hand. They interlaced their fingers, and smiled, before turning to face the others.</p>
<p>Nancy’s eyebrows were raised, not disapprovingly so, more mildly surprised. Ace looked stoic as per usual. Bess squealed.</p>
<p>“Oh my God! When did this happen? Tell me everything!” she came up and linked her arm through George’s dragging her, and by extension Nick, to a booth. They sat down and George glanced at Nick before focusing on Bess and telling their story.</p>
<p>“We were spending a lot of time together, you know, investigating, and now with the Claw. So about two weeks ago,” she looked at Nick for confirmation and he nodded and slung his arm over the back of the booth, “we started dating.”</p>
<p>“Two weeks!” Bess looked positively offended. “And you’re only telling me now!”</p>
<p>“They’re telling <i>us</i> now, Bess.” Ace said, sliding into the booth beside her. </p>
<p>“We didn’t want to say anything until we knew it was serious,” Nick explained, adding to the story they had prepared. </p>
<p>“So, this is serious then?” Nancy asked, sitting beside Ace, causing Bess to bunch up against the wall. </p>
<p>George swallowed. “Yes, and Nancy, I’m sorry if this is awkward, we didn’t want to put you in a weird position, and I-”</p>
<p>“No, no, no,” Nancy interrupted grabbing George’s hand from the table. “It’s not awkward. I’m happy for you guys.” She looked at Nick, “Really, I am.”</p>
<p>“Thanks, Nance,” Nick said smiling at her. His arm had shifted to be more around George’s shoulders and his thumb began stroking up and down just below her shirt sleeve. The five of them stayed there, just looking at each other, until George couldn’t take it any longer.</p>
<p>“Alright, that’s enough, it’s time to get to work now.” She shooed them from the table, “Come on, let’s go!”</p>
<p>“Good to know love hasn’t mellowed her at all,” Ace said under his breath as they stood to go about their duties. Bess laughed and slapped his shoulder. </p>
<p>George watched them go and felt some tension leave her. That had been an overall success. She and Nick looked at each other and smiled slightly. Maybe this would all be okay. </p>
<p>The day passed rather uneventfully, the breakfast rush becoming the lunch rush, and George still had trouble believing that they had rushes now. Not being a suspect in a murder was very good for business. </p>
<p>They were ten minutes from closing, when she got a text. </p>
<p>
  <i>Ryan – Can we meet? Please? I miss you so much</i>
</p>
<p>George stared at the text, before swiping it away and getting back to cleaning down the table in front of her. </p>
<p>The bell chimed and she groaned inwardly, hoping it was a take-out order and not a sit-down meal. She stood and faced the door, ready to plaster a smile on her face. The smile dropped when she saw who it was.</p>
<p>Ryan walked towards her, getting closer than she would have liked. “You’re avoiding me.” He said, his voice low and his eyes intense. “You know you can’t ignore me forever.”</p>
<p>“Ryan, please leave. We have customers and I can’t afford a scene right now.” She twisted her dishrag in her fingers, hoping beyond hope he’ll just pick up and leave. Maybe buy a coffee first. </p>
<p>“George, we have something real between us. I know the circumstances aren’t great, but we are so good together. You can’t tell me you don’t feel it.” He rested his hand on her elbow and reached up to push a loose strand of hair behind her ear with the other one. George’s fight or flight reflex must have been broken because she was telling herself to move, to push him away, to do <i>something</i>, but she was frozen. </p>
<p>“Hey babe?” Nick’s voice broke the spell, and she could move again, pushing his hands off of her. “Can you check my count at the register? I keep coming up with different numbers.” Nick stood a few feet away from them, watching the situation carefully. Ryan hadn’t looked away from her face. </p>
<p>“Babe?” he said, sounding angry. “Is he the reason you’re not responding to my messages?”</p>
<p>“He’s one of them.” George was conflicted. As much as she was happy Nick was there and that their ruse seemed to be working, she was annoyed that she needed him in the first place. </p>
<p>Ryan started to walk backwards away from her. “I see.” He finally looked away from her face and George felt like she could breathe again. “Fine. Let’s see how long that lasts.” His gaze flitted between her and Nick, and then he left. George sagged against the booth, and Nick moved to the door, flipping the sign to Closed. Six minutes early, but he was the co-boss, so who was going to tell him no? </p>
<p>He went back to George and placed a hand on her shoulder, silently asking if she was alright. She nodded shortly, still kneading the dish rag in her hands. </p>
<p>“I do actually need you to recount for me. The calculator says we made fifty grand today, and I know we’re good, but we’re not that good.” George smiled at him, feeling more like herself.</p>
<p>“I’ll look at that, if you finish wiping up for me?” she held out the rag in her hand. He took it happily.</p>
<p>“Deal,” he stopped her as she began to walk away, saying quietly, “the others are watching,” and then he pressed a kiss to her forehead. George allowed it to happen and relaxed into him a little, giving herself a moment of comfort before she stepped away from him and went to correct his bad math. </p>
<p>She looked up from the calculator when she felt a presence in front of her. Nancy was looking at her, with her patented concerned-yet-intrigued look. </p>
<p>“Can I help you, Drew?”</p>
<p>“I just wanted to see if you’re okay.” George stopped counting. Nancy continued, “Ryan seemed pretty upset.”</p>
<p>“Ryan just doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.” George looked up at Nancy. Bess was clearing the last table and brought the final check of the night to the counter, obviously interested in the conversation. </p>
<p>“If you need me to say something to him, or… I don’t know, dig up some more skeletons from his closet, you just say the word” Nancy shrugged her jacket on. George tried not to look as taken aback by the offer as she was. Being friends with Nancy Drew was an adjustment she was still making. </p>
<p>“Um, thanks, but I think I can handle it.”</p>
<p>Nancy knocked once on the counter as she turned to leave for the evening, Ace waiting for her at the door. “The offer stands.”</p>
<p>Bess was next to leave, but not before she pulled George into a forceful hug. “I’m really happy for you two.” George couldn’t say anything before Bess was out the door. She turned to face Nick, the only one left in the diner, when Bess came back in. “Just an FYI, Ryan is sitting in his car outside. Thought you might like to know.” She looked between the two of them, before nodding and heading out again.</p>
<p>Nick had George’s jacket in hand. “I’ll drive you home.” He helped her put it on and they turned the lights off before leaving and locking the door. </p>
<p>Bess had been right, Ryan’s car sitting stationary in the parking lot. George could see it from the corner of her eye, careful not to stare directly at it. She didn’t put too much thought into her next actions in case she talked herself out of it. </p>
<p>She reached up and placed a gentle kiss on Nick’s lips. It only lasted a few seconds and was maybe the most chaste kiss either of them had ever had. She dropped back onto her heels, and hoped he would understand why she had done that. He smiled at her and wrapped an arm around her before steering her to his truck. They could both feel eyes on them the entire ride home and one glance in the rear-view mirror confirmed Nick’s suspicion that Ryan was following them home. </p>
<p>“Hey, do you think maybe you could stay at mine tonight?” he asked. </p>
<p>“What?” George asked. She had been so looking forward to her own bed.</p>
<p>“He’s still following us.” Nick explained. “It’s fine if you can’t, I just thought it might make him see that you’ve really moved on.”</p>
<p>George considered for a moment. If she wanted to go home, they would have to continue straight on. Nick’s place was the next left. “Let’s go to yours then.”</p>
<p>Nick immediately flicked his turn signal on and headed home. They were there within five minutes, not a word spoken between them. George checked the mirror again. She couldn’t tell if Ryan had followed them any further, but it wasn’t worth the risk. She would have to spend the night with Nick. She could feel the nervousness brewing in her stomach, along with something else… excitement maybe? No, that was ridiculous. She shook her head as she got out of the truck, following Nick to the door. </p>
<p>Once she stepped in, and Nick turned the light on, she was faced with the reality of the situation. Nick only had one bed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ryan gets skeavier by the minute.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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